During World War II, architects and artists mobilized their knowledge of
color, light, shadow, material, texture and form to assist the military
with camouflage, particularly the protective concealment of targets on
the ground. Over twenty schools including the Pratt Institute and the
Chicago School of Design offered wartime courses in camouflage to train
designers in the theories and techniques of civilian defense, concealing
factories and confusing aerial bombers. Students learned to isolate
basic principles of visual perception and to use them for camouflage
projects including the construction of decoys and the use of various
materials to 'garnish' the netting draped over guns, trucks and tanks.
They were taught to plant trees to disrupt the shadows cast by an object
and to use paint for patterning or 'countershading' to blend equipment
and buildings with the natural and urban surroundings. Most importantly,
the students were taught that in order to conceal a target on the
ground, the camoufleur needed to understand the bombardier's view from
the air and the 'process of vision' by which he selected and targeted a
site on the ground. This vision was enhanced by new technologies
including aerial photography, infrared photography and of course the
aircraft itself. Practices for deceiving 'both the eye and the camera'
were also displayed in a traveling exhibit curated by the Museum of
Modern Art in cooperation with the Pratt Institute and the U.S. Army
Engineers Board of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The principles of perception
and strategies of concealment in the show informed the public that
camouflage was a job for professionals, and that an amateur could do
more harm than good by dabbling in it himself. Similarly, the camouflage
courses at the Chicago School of Design gave architects and artists the
opportunity to collaborate with experts in the United States Armed
Forces and in private industry. In all areas of camouflage, architects
and artists combined their artistry with an informed understanding of
new technologies of vision to support the effort to win the war. Many
camouflage manuals speculated that the lessons learned, about the
importance of dispersal and of informal arrangements of buildings and
landscaping, would remain useful after the war was won.

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